Bernardine Evaristo

Every summer we were ordered out into the garden with machetes to chop down the grass, which grew above our heads. We loathed having to spend summer days in manual labour, but we never dared question our father’s authority.

Bernardine Evaristo is the award-winning author of Lara and The Emperor's Babe. She has been both Poet in Residence at the Museum of London and Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in London.